Rationale: In order for children to read
and spell words they need to understand that letters stand for phonemes
and spellings map out the phonemes in spoken words. A way to help
children understand this is by practicing correspondences, which is made
of a grapheme and a phoneme. In this lesson the students will learn
the correspondence ee=/E/. First I think we should review
the correspondence e=/E/ and then learn that ee=/E/ makes
the same sound. By the end of this lesson my students should be able
to pronounce and identify the ee=/E/ correspondence in words.

Materials: Elkonin letterboxes and letterbox
letters (ee, n, d, w, k, s, b, f, r, l, tt) for each child, chalkboard,
chalk, Lee and the Team books for each child, primary writing paper, and
a pencil, worksheet with sentences on it containing the ee=/E/ correspondence

Procedures:1. Start by reviewing the e=/E/ correspondence
to review the long E sound. Have students think of words that
make the long E sound. (Hopefully while the students are naming words
maybe one of them will have the ee=/E/ correspondence.)2. Next discuss the long /E/ sound.
Explain to them that there is more than one way to make the long /E/ sound.
Now go back to the words that are on the board and pick out a word that
has the ee=/E/ correspondence. (If one is not up there write
a few words that have this correspondence.) Go through the words
and circle the ee letters to show that this grapheme makes the long
/E/ sound.3. "Now I am going to say a fun tongue twister
and I want you to listen for the long /E/ sound. "Meet Lee, the sleepy
bee, who sleeps for three weeks." Now I am going to write the tongue
twister on the board and as I say and write each word listen for the long
/E/ sound. Now let's say the tongue twister as a class. Raise
your hand if you hear any words with the long /E/ sound." Call on
each student one at a time and circle the part of the word that makes this
sound.4. "Now let's say the tongue twister and
drag out the sound that makes the long /E/ sound. "Meeeet, Leeeee, the
sleeeepy beeeee, who sleeeeps for threeee weeeeks." Very good
boys and girls notice how the ee makes the long /E/ sound just like e makes
the long /E/ sound.5. Draw the letterboxes on the chalkboard
so that the whole class can see the first few examples. Ask the students
"If two letters make one sound then do they go in one box or two? Correct
the answer is one. Watch me do a few examples. Let's try beep.
You need one letterbox for b, one letterbox for ee, and one
letterbox for p. So even though there are two letters in box
two they only make one sound.6. "Now I am going to call out a few words
and you make your own words in your letterboxes. First you need to get
out the letters e,e, n, d, w, k, s, b, f, r, l, t,t. Now I
am going to write a word on the board and I want you to use your letterboxes
to spell the words. (Call out one word at a time and walk around
the room to check and see if the students are doing this correctly) The
words are (2 letterboxes)see and bee,(3 letterboxes) need,
week, and free,(4 letterboxes) fleet,(5 letterboxes)
street. Make sure that the students know when to add a letterbox.7. "Now we are going to read a book called
Lee and the Team. This is a story about a boy named Lee that goes
to play a baseball game with his friends, but the rest of the team is being
lazy. Lee is very frustrated until a bee comes along so let's find
out what happens. I will assign you a partner to buddy read with
and after you read I would like for you to make a list of the words that
have the ee=/E/ sound in them. So you will need your book,
primary writing paper, and a pencil." ( I will pair up some of the
higher leveled readers with the struggling readers) The teacher may
walk around the room and listen to the children read aloud to each other.8. For assessment I will pass out a worksheet
that has a sentence containing the ee=/E/ correspondence.
For example, The bees live deep in the tree. Have the students
circle the ee=/E/ correspondence. Then have the students make
up at least two other words that have the ee=/E/ correspondence
in them. Then use some of these words and ask the students do they
hear /E/ in bee or live? Beep or honk? Tree
or trunk? I will also have some pictures of these words and
they will match these words to the correct picture.